LOS ANGELES — It was a dank, rain-sodden Raymond Chandler kind of morning, as if some omnipotent auteur had rung up the studio and ordered a classic film noir sky. Cumulonimbus clouds the color of a snub-nosed revolver hovered with ominous intent, and tires on slickened freeway lanes gave off a sinister, knife-sharpening hiss. Only a sap would be out on a day like this, searching for the seedy, serrated soul of L.A. noir. Yet tourists often come here, searching for the Los Angeles of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. They seek remnants of a period when the city was an incubator of tawdriness, a place where corruption, double-dealing and unchecked passion gave rise to a literary and...

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LOS ANGELES — It was a dank, rain-sodden Raymond Chandler kind of morning, as if some omnipotent auteur had rung up the studio and ordered a classic film noir sky. Cumulonimbus clouds the color of a snub-nosed revolver hovered with ominous intent, and...

MOAB, Utah — The doorknob had smashed a sizable hole in the wall of our room at the Apache Motel. The rusty bathroom ceiling fan made a harsh scraping sound, and the industrial carpet sported several suspicious stains.We loved the place.The neon sign at...

While it's true that there's only so much anyone can say about the Oscars, remember it can be said again and again. As a reader (and writer), I know by now that there are 10 abiding Oscar stories. Here they are, all in a single article:
The history
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